OUR VIEW: Too much, too soon on textbooks

Published: Monday, November 4, 2013 at 6:59 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, November 4, 2013 at 7:00 p.m.

It’s an idea that sounds good, but those often warrant the most scrutiny, debate and caution.

We think that’s the case with a push to make textbooks a thing of the past in Alabama’s public schools.

Bills prefiled by Republican Sens. Gerald Dial of Lineville and Jim McClendon of Springville for the 2014 legislative session seek a $100 million bond issue to permit school systems, if they choose, to replace textbooks with technology. That would be laptops, tablets or similar devices on which electronic versions of textbooks can be preloaded or accessed wirelessly from the cloud.

The Legislature in 2012 passed the Alabama Ahead Act that established a board to deal with this and gave it the authority to issue the bonds. Legislation to actually trigger that process failed this year.

Under the new bills, bonds would be issued as school systems request the money, a process Dial said could take two to three years. Replacing the textbooks would take a year or so longer.

Gov. Robert Bentley, an advocate of increased technology in Alabama schools, has said he won’t commit his support to the plan until his advisers review it and give him a report.

However, it has strong support from Melinda Maddox, assistant state superintendent for research, information and data services, who says it will better prepare Alabama students for college and careers, and save school systems money.

We agree with Maddox’s first assertion. This is a digital world, especially for young people who know no other way of accessing or processing data. It’s why we’ve supported local school systems allowing students to “bring their own devices” to use in the classroom.

Her second assertion? Advocates of ditching textbooks say school systems won’t have to buy hundreds of increasingly expensive books every five or 10 years (and replace those that get lost or damaged). However, they still will have to buy digital copies of the books, which aren’t free (and also become outdated and need replacing). It’s unrealistic to think they can get by with one copy and stash it in the cloud to be accessed wirelessly, because these devices will need to be carried home to be of real worth, and not every student has a router at home or easy access to a Wi-Fi hotspot.

It’s also unrealistic to assume these devices won’t need regular maintenance, repair or even replacement, or that some schools won’t have to do significant improvements to their network infrastructures to handle the increased use (and catch kids who are playing Angry Birds or catching up on their Twitter feeds). That will mean higher IT costs.

We’re not saying, “Ignore technology and keep textbooks.” This changeover needs to happen at some point. We’re just not sure if this particular idea makes financial sense for Alabama right now, plus we’re leery of its centralized nature. We’d prefer to see such initiatives originate locally, from the people who understand their school systems’ needs, and know what those systems can do and how fast.

<p>It's an idea that sounds good, but those often warrant the most scrutiny, debate and caution.</p><p>We think that's the case with a push to make textbooks a thing of the past in Alabama's public schools.</p><p>Bills prefiled by Republican Sens. Gerald Dial of Lineville and Jim McClendon of Springville for the 2014 legislative session seek a $100 million bond issue to permit school systems, if they choose, to replace textbooks with technology. That would be laptops, tablets or similar devices on which electronic versions of textbooks can be preloaded or accessed wirelessly from the cloud.</p><p>The Legislature in 2012 passed the Alabama Ahead Act that established a board to deal with this and gave it the authority to issue the bonds. Legislation to actually trigger that process failed this year.</p><p>Under the new bills, bonds would be issued as school systems request the money, a process Dial said could take two to three years. Replacing the textbooks would take a year or so longer.</p><p>Gov. Robert Bentley, an advocate of increased technology in Alabama schools, has said he won't commit his support to the plan until his advisers review it and give him a report.</p><p>However, it has strong support from Melinda Maddox, assistant state superintendent for research, information and data services, who says it will better prepare Alabama students for college and careers, and save school systems money.</p><p>We agree with Maddox's first assertion. This is a digital world, especially for young people who know no other way of accessing or processing data. It's why we've supported local school systems allowing students to “bring their own devices” to use in the classroom.</p><p>Her second assertion? Advocates of ditching textbooks say school systems won't have to buy hundreds of increasingly expensive books every five or 10 years (and replace those that get lost or damaged). However, they still will have to buy digital copies of the books, which aren't free (and also become outdated and need replacing). It's unrealistic to think they can get by with one copy and stash it in the cloud to be accessed wirelessly, because these devices will need to be carried home to be of real worth, and not every student has a router at home or easy access to a Wi-Fi hotspot.</p><p>It's also unrealistic to assume these devices won't need regular maintenance, repair or even replacement, or that some schools won't have to do significant improvements to their network infrastructures to handle the increased use (and catch kids who are playing Angry Birds or catching up on their Twitter feeds). That will mean higher IT costs.</p><p>We're not saying, “Ignore technology and keep textbooks.” This changeover needs to happen at some point. We're just not sure if this particular idea makes financial sense for Alabama right now, plus we're leery of its centralized nature. We'd prefer to see such initiatives originate locally, from the people who understand their school systems' needs, and know what those systems can do and how fast.</p>